Grow your own prehistoric creature was a kit I found recently. I remember these kits from when I was a kid also. The kit contains a type of shrimp eggs and some food for as they get a little bigger. Ours included a container and some sand for the bottom of the tank.

We put together the kit as a family which included only using half the eggs and have waited to see what hatches. For us this turned out to be nothing we could see. I was convinced I could see a little something in the tank, but it was not moving. – So I think our try failed. We do still have our other half of the eggs to try.

In our case though we used tap water, not distilled and didn’t put the food in because we didn’t see anything.

For us it didn’t work, but these kits do work for others. It is a fun experiment to try if you can get it to work, and you can explore the history of triops or other prehistoric creatures to go with. Ours also came with a poster of the history.

I was also contemplating the question of what to do with the creatures after we ‘finish’ with them. Comments I’ve found include some saying they dirty the tank quickly.

Also ours may not have hatched because we didn’t use hot enough water. Hints that I could find on google included:

– heat the distilled water up before adding it, the eggs will ONLY hatch if the water is 70 to 80 degrees.
– the triops life span pretty much depends on how warm you keep them, and making sure you don’t over feed them.
– The 2nd half of the eggs should be raised in a separate tank so the larger triops don’t eat them.

Now to decide whether to heat the water we have and see if the current eggs hatch, or try the second envelope of eggs….

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I am a SAHM/WAHM of three boys ranging in age from 8 to 23. We are working on saving enough for college at the same time as taking care of the kids at home. I author a few blogs, including http://teched4kids.com. I have in the past taught computer information technology classes for the local university and taught workshops for kid's in technology education besides being the Kentucky State FIRST LEGO League Championship Coordinator from 2005 to 2008. I now work as a computer consultant, run a handmade home business, and am available for workshops. Life here is always an adventure!